There has been some recent resurgence in the conversation surrounding the actual origins of the BMW Logo. Do the colors represent the colors of the bavarian flag in reverse? Or does it originate from early BMW marketing posters that links BMW to airplane engines and the spinning propeller against a blue sky? Watch the video and find out

I've been meaning to bring this up since I just recently found out from a BMW production show on TV that it is actually the colors of the Bavarian Flag. Hell, even BMW told customers for years that it was a propeller on blue skies.

The video does not offer an unequivocal statement of what the roundel represents, but it rather goes through history of BMW all the way to the Rapp Motorenwerke origin. The video says that the roundel color scheme is the same as that of the Bavarian coat of arms, but it does not say clearly that the Bavarian colors in the roundel are used to represent a spinning propeller. The BMW entry in Wiki (http://www.bmwdrives.com/bmw-history.php) is not so shy - it clearly refers to the aircraft origin of the badge, showing the same 1920 black-and-white image of an aircraft in flight as that in the video. It is possible that the company might now try to soften references to its aircraft engine origin, lest the roundel-carrying car owners who are in the fear of flying be concerned that their ultimate driving machine might take off and perform Immelmanns.

The video does not offer an unequivocal statement of what the roundel represents, but it rather goes through history of BMW all the way to the Rapp Motorenwerke origin. The video says that the roundel color scheme is the same as that of the Bavarian coat of arms, but it does not say clearly that the Bavarian colors in the roundel are used to represent a spinning propeller. The BMW entry in Wiki (http://www.bmwdrives.com/bmw-history.php) is not so shy - it clearly refers to the aircraft origin of the badge, showing the same 1920 black-and-white image of an aircraft in flight as that in the video. It is possible that the company might now try to soften references to its aircraft engine origin, lest the roundel-carrying car owners who are in the fear of flying be concerned that their ultimate driving machine might take off and perform Immelmanns.

Lol..

By the way, BMW's CEO said in one of those factory tour shows that it was indeed the Bavarian Flag.

They could have used a better shot in the video regarding the application of the logo on the hood. She struggles with it and just looks bad wobbling back and forth as she tries to put it on...ah they could have used a better shot.

..and after seeing the bavarian flag a few years ago for the first time I was like "oh of course, thats where the logo came from, Bavarian Motor Works duh." And the propeller theory died.

Have any of you guys been to Disney California Adventure? There's a ride there...I'm not exactly sure which ride or if it was maybe the car museum there but it explains that the roundel is actually the design of the propeller but the color choice is that of the bavarian flag. It's been like more than like 6 years so i'm not sure if it's still there but that's something i remember from my child hood

here's a link that describes the logo, not sure how legit it is but the picture sure does seem to be legit.

By the way, BMW's CEO said in one of those factory tour shows that it was indeed the Bavarian Flag.

I should add that during a BMW research facility tour (Munich), we were told it was due to the airplane propellers. However, the next day when we went to the BMW museum, they called this a myth! and that it is derived from the Bavarian colors - which I do believe to be true

It was surprising that even inside BMW there seems to be debate (or misunderstanding) about this

BMW was not allowed to use the exact design of the Bavarian flag for their logo, it was against German law to use a national symbol as a form of marketing. So thats why they changed the angle of the blue and white squares from the Bavarian flag to use in their logo. Technically it uses the same colors as the flag, but the design is different. Thats why the colors and shapes are configured in that (+) style way.

National Geographic channel made a TV documentary regarding to the BMW factory in Spartanburg (one of the Ultimate Factories Series), in there, they interviewed an important figure from BMW, and he very clearly stated that the BMW logo does NOT represent the spinning propeller as BMW told others previously.